Her Shattered Forever
by because.why
Summary: There were unanswered questions about Edwards untimely and sudden disappearance. With Bella's "forever" shattered, she's left to raise Edward's baby alone. All-human. Definite drama and romance. R&R appreciated!
1. Chapter 1

**AN: It's been 4 years since I've worked on any kind of fanfiction, so judge me gently. I appreciate all constructive criticism and motivation. I have so many plans for this story, so I hope you all enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it!**

Before

We met our senior year in high school. He moved from a small town in Alaska, and needless to say, he was slightly overwhelmed, swimming in a sea of students he'd never met. I found him at a dead stop in the middle of the hallway, right before 5th period, looking blankly from a not-so-precise map of the school to his schedule. Though the student body was friendly, the bell was about to ring, and it was clear no one was willing to be reprimanded for being tardy.

He was the infamous new kid, everyone had heard of him. Gossip spread like a wildfire around this place, thanks to Jessica Stanley. She was my partner in biology, and everything I knew about the goings on in this school, I heard from her. I was surprised she didn't know his name; she knew everything. But she did know he was "like, totally smart", and that his dad was the new town doctor. Evidently, he and his four siblings were adopted by the doctor and his wife.

As I came up beside him, I tapped him gently on the shoulder, shocking him slightly. His smell was intoxicating; in the good _ahh_ kind of way that you couldn't help but notice. "Oh, uhm..." He said, slightly flustered. "Hi".

"Need help?" I asked knowingly. I was essentially helpless in navigation when I was the "new kid". He looked down, slightly embarrassed, but then turned to look me in the eye. I looked back in to his, and had to fight to break contact with his rich brown eyes.

"Yeah." He said quietly. "Yes, I do." He said again, more confidently. I smiled, and I peered down at his schedule. I scanned the paper and realized, much to my shocked delight, that we had 4 of 6 classes together. This one, Electricity, we shared. I smiled up at him, then linked my arm through his.

I guided him through the chaos of nearly-late students, weaving expertly through rush of people, and into the spacy shop that hosted only 1 electricity class and 4 wood working courses. I introduced him to Lauren, and went to take my seat before the tardy bell rang. I shared a table with Mike Newton, and a very quiet guy (we had yet to discover his name due to the constant use of headphones) who drowned himself in black clothing and was never seen without a hood- this added to the illusion that he was half dead. Or half alive, depending on how optimistic you were.

Our teacher, bubbling with his usual over-the-top enthusiasm for the class, placed Edward in the only available seat; right next to me, and right across from Mike. Edward gave me a big white-toothed smile as he took a seat. Then his eyes wandered from Mike to the hooded figure between us. I could tell he was trying not to stare, but it was hard. He got a lot of strange looks, and I felt bad for him.

The days' lesson had something to do with learning the wiring of electrical outlets. We all sat there with our wires and outlets, trying to connect them. It was plain as day that Edward was having no troubles with this, and Mike, well, I didn't know exactly what we were doing, but I knew enough to tell that what he was doing wasn't right. Helplessly, I looked down at the wires I had long since given up on, deciding I would never take up a career as an electrician.

I watched, out of boredom, and a bit of amusement, as Mr. Forcum escorted a kid out in to the hallway for shooting spit balls at him. Again.

My mind's hopeless wandering was cut short by a flame that had ignited in front of Mike. It was already huge, and I wondered how long it had been burning. Feeding off the un-varnished wood table and the saw dust from the shop classes, it grew larger. A few girls screamed, while I merely jumped out of my seat in shock, backing away.

Edward already had the fire extinguisher out, smothering the flames. I froze, and watched as the flames drowned and eventually died under the retardant.

Another scream, a point to me, all happened in slow motion. I looked at my arm just in time to see a large hand patting down the flames that had began to burn through my hoodie. I quickly shed myself of the offending item, letting it fall in a heap on the concrete floor.

Edward turned my body to him, taking my shoulders in his hands, forcing me to look at him, though I didn't exactly have a problem with that. "Are you okay?" He asked me, furrowing his brow.

I was shocked to hear how sincere and maybe almost worried his voice sounded. No one had ever talked to me like that. No one ever cared like that. It took a second to get all my senses together, and make sure I really was okay.

Aside from a small burn on my forearm, where there was a matching hole on my hoodie, I was fine. I nodded. His soft eyes stared in to mine, hard, for a second longer, and then his hands slid off my shoulders.

The bell rang, and everyone fled the class, but I took my time exiting the room. I had lunch next, and since I broke up with Eric, I didn't really have a place I "belonged". Mike had offered me a place at his usual table, but I wasn't interested at all. I preferred being alone over the awkward pushiness that was Mike Newton. I was at my old beat up locker, turning the sticky dial, before I realized someone was standing next to me. Looking over, I realized it was Edward.

"Oh, hey." I smiled. People were staring at us. Whether it was because he was the new kid, or because he was extremely hot, I didn't know.

"Do you want to have lunch?"

And that was the beginning of what I though was going to be forever.

I hadn't seen or talked to Edward in almost 6 years. I didn't know why he left. Just suddenly he was gone and I was painfully and devastatingly alone. And pregnant. Maybe it was fate. He wasn't mature enough to handle a child anyways. Not if he just got up and left for no apparent reason. But it wouldn't have changed anything. For all I knew, he could have left our town in Washington and went off to Antarctica. It was a likely possibility I would never know where he went, and at this point, I wasn't sure if I wanted to.

He didn't tell his family either. They were just as shocked as me to find out Edward had disappeared in the night, with nothing more than a note saying he wasn't coming back. They were more shocked, possibly even more dismayed when I broke down and disclosed my pregnancy to them. It took me several weeks to come to terms with the idea of having a child alone. Once I'd snapped out of my shock, I'd decided the right thing to do was tell Edward's parents of their impending grandparent-hood, despite Edward's vacancy from our lives.

Now, as I mulled over this event for what seemed to be the billionth time this week alone, while my daughter, Addie, slept peacefully in her bed, I began to cry. I shed tears for my daughter, who has never, and for the foreseeable future, will never know a father figure. Addie had her figurative second-mom, Alice and her now-husband, Jasper. Addie has her few friends from school. And me. But she doesn't have a father figure in her life, and I know how much it is going to affect her when she gets older. Although my decision to stop visiting Charlie had been my decision as a child, I realized the impact of a stable father as I aged.

I met Alice a few days after I met Edward. We became fast friends, and then when Edward left and, inevitably, the news of my pregnancy got out, she helped me through it. She went to my doctors' appointments with me, and helped me pick out things for Addie to wear, and the paint for the nursery. She even conned Jasper in to setting up the crib and rocker. She and Edward had a fantastic sibling bond, despite no actual blood relation. So, when Edward left, she had no problems wallowing with me, then in my later stages of grief, complaining and bitching. And for the most part, this is how I got my anger out.

Addie and I lived in a modestly sized two story home, light paneling covers the outside of the house, with dark oak doors and window frames. The inside was very light and open, with many large windows, a large kitchen and living space with a nice fire place. There were three rooms, and at one point, Alice had lived with us, playing a huge part in raising Addie. Once Alice and Jasper finally tied the knot, they understandably needed their own space. If it weren't for Rosalie moving in while Emmett finished college, Addie and I would be completely alone.

Addie was a sweet girl, who was, like any other child, playful and energetic, but she was also calm and polite. Her energetic side, however, was always limited due to her asthma. We tried not to worry about it much, and made sure she had an inhaler everywhere she went. With her birthday being tomorrow, I was mildly worried, but she knew her limitations, and I trusted her, so I tried not to worry too much.

God, her party, it seemed like she was getting so old so fast. Alice would be coming over first thing tomorrow to help Rose and I decorate and prepare the food. Seeing as her birthday was July 4, we decided to incorporate a birthday party and an Independence Day party in to one. This meant that there would be many more people than at a normal small scale birthday party. And I could definitely use all the help I could get to prepare for so many people.

I knew that since our house was by no means sound proof, Addie would probably hear my crying, so I turned on CNN, a channel with such a boring mono-tone sound to it, that she would surely fall asleep out of boredom, if nothing else. Only a small portion of my brain paid attention to what was the screen, the rest of it was too busy trying to figure everything else out in life.

I sat there staring at the colorful screen for God knows how long before I heard the loud, obnoxious doorbell ring. I sniffed, drying the tears trickling down my face, not wanting to move from my comfortable position on the couch, but did so anyways. I didn't really want them to ring again and wake my sleeping angel. Who was this person anyways? Who would want to talk to me at…? I looked up at the clock to see it was nearing 12 a.m.

I was completely ready to chew out the person at the door, but as soon as it swung open I was shocked in to silence. There was a pair of painfully familiar eyes boring in to mine. I gasped audibly. "Edward?" I questioned dumbly, blinking to make sure the image in front of me wasn't a hallucination.

"Bella." He breathed, with a smile on his face.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: To all those who commented or PM'd me, thank you! I really appreciate it. Now for the next chapter. A little shorter due to a tighter time frame to write. More to come soon!**

"Bella." He breathed, with a smile on his face. His scent was making my legs turn in to jelly. _No_ , I told myself. _He left you. Stay strong. Don't let him get to you like that._

"You left." I told him blankly, careful to keep all emotion out of my face and voice, while still managing to stay standing. I wasn't sure whether I wanted to beat the shit out of him for leaving, or kiss him senseless for coming back.

 _Beat him._

"I… I know." He sighed, defeated. I took a moment to study his face and found tears welling in his eyes as a pained look crossed his normally flawless face. "Could I come in? We can talk about it inside." Speechless at the desperation his expression held, I stood off to the side, allowing him to cross the threshold. I sat on the leather sofa, and motioned him to do the same on the opposing chair.

If looks could kill, Edward would be lying dead across my couch right now. No look, no regret could fix what had already been done.

"Why'd you come back?" I asked him coldly, giving him what I hoped was a menacing glare. The truth was, I still couldn't decide if I wanted to pound the crap out of him for leaving, or kiss him senseless for coming back.

"I missed you." He told me, giving me an award winning smile that I always had the hardest time resisting. _No Bella_ , I told myself. _You can't give in._

I snorted. "Right. What is the real reason you came back, huh? Did your girlfriend dump you?"

A look of confusion and shock crossed Edward's face. "What are you talking about?"

"The girl you left me for." I told him, my eye twitching in irritation. I wasn't stupid. Why else would he leave our serious and (what seemed to be) very committed relationship?

"There was never another girl. It was always you." And he said it with such sincerity; I almost wanted to believe him. Then I thought about fatherless Addie sleeping in the other room, and the thought was out of my mind as soon as it had come.

"And you left because…?" I trailed off, leaving him to fill in the blanks.

"I wanted to find my real parents. When I left, I thought I had a solid lead." _Huh?_ "I didn't want to hurt Carlisle or Esme by any of this. Or any of my siblings, for that matter. They're my real family, and even mentioning my biological parents in the past had stirred up emotions."

I still didn't understand. "Why didn't you tell me?" I struggled to keep my voice at a reasonable level and clenched my fists in an effort to release some anger.

"I knew you'd want to come. And I wanted you to, but I knew the selfless thing to do was to keep you away so you could finish college. I didn't want you to throw that away just to humor my selfish desire to find the people who abandoned me."

 _Selfless? He did NOT just call himself SELFLESS._

I could feel the anger boiling into an uncontrollable rage inside me. I stood, and walked over to him, standing just a few inches from the man I once thought was my forever. "You," I hissed, poking my bony finger to his broad chest, "Don't know what you're fucking talking about."

"Oh, really?" He challenged, standing up. The intimidating height difference caused me to take a large step back. "What don't I know?"

"I was pregnant, you idiot!" I nearly screamed, tears threatening to overflow. "Pregnant with _your_ child. And you didn't have the time of day for us. You LEFT!" I screamed, falling back into the couch, allowing sobs to rack through my body as I pulled my knees to my chest.

"You were pregnant?" He whispered, taking the seat next to me, obviously not sure whether I would allow him to comfort me, or not.

"Yes…" I was interrupted by the creak of a door opening, and the sound of feet pitter-pattering across the floor over to us.

Addie had tears in her eyes. "Mommy, why are you yelling?" She asked me in her angelic voice. "I don't like it when you yell." And she didn't. She was a really sensitive, shy, and delicate child.

"Oh, baby, come here." I said, opening up my arms to allow her on my lap. She snuggled in to me, and then realized the presence of Edward.

"Mommy," She whispered in to my ear, "Who is that man?"


End file.
